]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/02/why-google-wins-by-giving-away-patents-to-startups-willing-to-join-the-lot-network/id=60162/feed/2Conservative Groups Upping Patent Bill Oppositionhttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/02/conservative-groups-upping-patent-bill-opposition/id=60170/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/02/conservative-groups-upping-patent-bill-opposition/id=60170/#commentsSun, 02 Aug 2015 11:30:36 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=60170Leading organizations of the Conservative Movement have stepped up their game informing Congress on the philosophical reasons for opposing the Innovation Act and its Senate companion, the PATENT Act. This increased patent bill opposition is directed at Republican lawmakers, the political majority party in both houses of Congress. With House leadership deciding to postpone H.R. 9's floor debate until at least September, the expanded conservative opposition seems to be effective.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/02/conservative-groups-upping-patent-bill-opposition/id=60170/feed/0When should you do a Patent Search?http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/01/when-should-you-do-a-patent-search/id=60253/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/01/when-should-you-do-a-patent-search/id=60253/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 13:00:26 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=60253When to get a patent search done is largely a matter of choice, but one that also depends upon the purpose of the search. Most frequently, inventors will seek a patent search once they have an invention that they think is worth patenting, but sometimes inventors won't yet have an invention that is complete, but would like to get a sense of the patent landscape to determine whether it even makes sense to continue the project and whether there may be some available space that they could target. These are two different purposes for a patent search, so the first step is to determine why it is that you want a patent search.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/08/01/when-should-you-do-a-patent-search/id=60253/feed/2Deputy Commissioner Drew Hirshfeld Appointed as New Commissioner for Patentshttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/30/deputy-commissioner-for-patent-examination-policy-drew-hirshfeld-appointed-as-new-commissioner-for-patents/id=60110/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/30/deputy-commissioner-for-patent-examination-policy-drew-hirshfeld-appointed-as-new-commissioner-for-patents/id=60110/#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 15:43:15 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=60110Hirshfeld succeeds Margaret “Peggy” Focarino, who served at the USPTO for 38 years and retired in early July 2015. While there were many highly qualified applicants for the Office to consider, it seemed to me that Hirshfeld was the logical choice to become the next Commissioner. Hirshfeld has been a key member of the senior management team at the USPTO for years, and others on the senior management team with more experience are either retiring this summer (i.e. Bruce Kisiluk) or are likely close to retirement.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/30/deputy-commissioner-for-patent-examination-policy-drew-hirshfeld-appointed-as-new-commissioner-for-patents/id=60110/feed/0Will the Obama Administration continue to seek amendments to the Innovation Act?http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/30/obama-administration-seek-amendments-to-innovation-act/id=60017/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/30/obama-administration-seek-amendments-to-innovation-act/id=60017/#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 10:30:25 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=60017As patent reform keeps chugging along in Washington, an important briefing was held on Thursday, July 23rd, between members and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee. The meeting focused on H.R. 9, the Innovation Act, which recently moved out of committee and is heading to the floor of the House for a vote once it’s scheduled, although a vote is not expected until September at the earliest. The briefing was closed to the press.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/30/obama-administration-seek-amendments-to-innovation-act/id=60017/feed/14Google continues to march forward on autonomous vehicle developmenthttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/29/google-continues-to-march-forward-on-autonomous-vehicle-development/id=59996/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/29/google-continues-to-march-forward-on-autonomous-vehicle-development/id=59996/#commentsWed, 29 Jul 2015 17:08:19 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=59996Self-driving cars were also the focus of a couple of utility patents we discovered during our most recent survey of Google’s technological innovations. A system for switching a vehicle in and out of a self-driving mode more easily is at the center of U.S. Patent No. 9075413, titled Engaging and Disengaging for Autonomous Driving. The patent protects a method of receiving a request to switch a vehicle from a manual driving mode to an autonomous driving mode, determining if the vehicle’s location is within a preapproved area or lane for autonomous driving and generating a set of tasks that a driver must complete, if necessary, before a car can enter an autonomous mode.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/29/google-continues-to-march-forward-on-autonomous-vehicle-development/id=59996/feed/2Was the Federal Circuit Trying to Save Us from Ourselves in Williamson v. Citrix?http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/28/federal-circuit-williamson-v-citrix/id=60059/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/28/federal-circuit-williamson-v-citrix/id=60059/#commentsTue, 28 Jul 2015 14:00:03 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=60059In Williamson v. Citrix, the Federal Circuit overruled its own precedent that there is a “strong” presumption that claim limitations that do not use the term “means” are not means-plus-function limitations. This change has been decried by practitioners who purposefully avoid the word “means” in order to avoid means-plus-function treatment of their functionally claimed elements. Means-plus-function claiming is an opportunity to be embraced, not a trap to be avoided. Invoking §112(f) and the associated scope of a means-plus-function limitation is largely in the control of the patent drafter.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/27/patent-reform-riddled-with-intended-unintended-and-unknown-consequences/id=60030/feed/6The Evolution of Roller Coasters: From Russian Ice Slides to American Steel Marvelshttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/27/the-evolution-of-roller-coasters-from-russian-ice-slides-to-american-steel-marvels/id=58894/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/27/the-evolution-of-roller-coasters-from-russian-ice-slides-to-american-steel-marvels/id=58894/#commentsMon, 27 Jul 2015 10:30:37 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=58894The development of the roller coaster as a ride for thrill seekers is primarily an American invention but the story of the modern coaster’s development spans centuries and continents. Roller coasters have served purposes as diverse as human entertainment and coal transportation. They have been the centerpieces of some of the most famous theme parks in history. As millions of people lower their shoulder harnesses and strap in for the ride this summer, let’s take a quick look back at the intriguing story of the origins of the modern roller coaster and how it has changed over the years.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/27/the-evolution-of-roller-coasters-from-russian-ice-slides-to-american-steel-marvels/id=58894/feed/0BIO, PhRMA lobby for IPR fix to insulate their patents from challengehttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/26/bio-phrma-lobby-for-ipr-fix/id=59965/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/26/bio-phrma-lobby-for-ipr-fix/id=59965/#commentsSun, 26 Jul 2015 12:00:44 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=59965Greenwood and Castellani will have two major problems as they seek relief. First, the IPR provisions do not include a standing requirement, which means that anyone can bring an IPR for any reason. The second problem is potentially more challenging. An IPR fix would create a so-called scoring problem with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). What this means is that if this relief were provided for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, as desired by Goodlatte and Castellani, it will cost the federal government money and increase the deficit unless it is offset.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/26/bio-phrma-lobby-for-ipr-fix/id=59965/feed/7Design Patents 101 – Protecting Appearance Not Functionhttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/25/design-patents-101-protecting-appearance-not-function/id=59208/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/25/design-patents-101-protecting-appearance-not-function/id=59208/#commentsSat, 25 Jul 2015 13:00:05 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=59208Design patents are, in my opinion, an unfortunately overlooked patent. While a single design patent is a weak form of protection, they can be obtained quickly, rather inexpensively, and you can market the product using the terms "patented design" once a design patent has been obtained. Therefore, inventors and their representatives would do well to consider whether one or more design patents would be useful to supplement protection sought by a utility patent in order to facilitate a larger business strategy.

]]>http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/25/design-patents-101-protecting-appearance-not-function/id=59208/feed/5Patent landscape suggests Bluetooth Low Energy tech has largely untapped potentialhttp://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/24/patent-landscape-suggests-bluetooth-low-energy-tech-has-largely-untapped-potential/id=58586/
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/07/24/patent-landscape-suggests-bluetooth-low-energy-tech-has-largely-untapped-potential/id=58586/#commentsFri, 24 Jul 2015 16:30:22 +0000http://www.ipwatchdog.com/?p=58586The two largest patent portfolios related to BLE technologies are owned by Irvine, CA-based fabless semiconductor company Broadcom and South Korean electronics giant Samsung. A market map view of the top innovators in the BLE space shows that not only does Broadcom have a slightly larger portfolio than Samsung, it has also dealt with far less litigation than the South Korean developer. The large collection of companies clustering in the lower-left quadrant of this market map represent companies with smaller patent portfolios and lower revenues. The dozens of companies dotting this portion of the map could be an indication that mergers and acquisitions in the IoT semiconductor chip space may be far from over this year.